Paes hopes world record will inspire young guns
DAVIS CUP Veteran tennis star proud to play his part in comefrombehind win against China TIANJIN:
Leander Paes, who began his Davis Cup journey in 1990, has now placed himself on a pedestal from where it will require a superhuman effort to displace him.
He is 44 now, with a world record 43 doubles wins in Davis Cup to his credit. His contemporaries, and even some who started their careers long after him, have hung their racquets but Paes continues to “re-invent” his game and add power in his legs to pull India through.
He did it on Saturday again and in the process earned a win which made him the most successful doubles player in the history of Davis Cup.
Serving at 5-6 in the decisive third set, Paes and Rohan Bopanna were down 0-30 - two points away from a defeat which would have embarrassed the nation - but they logged four points to keep India in hunt.
It inspired Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran to produce reverse singles wins as India clinched a memorable win.
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT “What a fabulous motivation. It is great to achieve the world record. I dedicate this record to my father, my parents, my daughter Aiyana, to every single Davis Captain I had and to every Davis Cup doubles partner I had and this world record belongs to India,” Paes said.
“I am so proud of being son of the soil and playing so long. Many many hard years of efforts, lots of ups and downs. I had to be very resilient.”
He is already the most decorated Indian tennis player with 18 Grand Slam titles.
“It is difficult to put in words after this win from 0-2 down. I had to play three matches for 16 years - two singles and one doubles. And now to go out there as one of the senior-most players of the team to motivate the boys, I take this responsibility very seriously.
“I hope with this record I can inspire lots of youngsters in whichever field they play or work in to believe that we Indians can be the world beaters and I can prove that Indians can be world champions,” was all he could say.
NO RETIREMENT YET
And he is in no mood to retire. He appears even more fired up.
“When it comes to playing for country, I am always available. I Number of Davis Cup doubles wins for Leander Paes, a world record. He surpassed Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli with Saturday’s win. feel I am still able to motivate the boys and go out there, bring out the best in them in training and at the same to get that doubles point. It’s such a crucial point as you saw in this tie. We were down 0-2 down and it could have been anybody’s game. It was a team effort. It explains itself.”
Going back in time, Paes mentioned about the 24-match unbeaten streak he weaved with Mahesh Bhupathi in Davis Cup.
“Winning those matches is something very special. Mahesh and myself always had that respect for each other.” Saturday’s results: Rubber 3 – Leander paes/Rohan Bopanna bt Mao Xin Gong/ Ze Zhang 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3); Rubber 4 - R Ramanathan bt Di Wu 76(4), 6-3; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Yibing Wu 6-4, 6-2; India bt China 3-2
This world record belongs to India. Many hard years of efforts, lots of ups and downs. I had to be very resilient. I hope this record can inspire youngsters in whichever field they are to believe that we Indians can be world beaters.